The Bold Bain Sub Text

[Tom Rinaldo]

Lost in all the sound and fury is this. The Obama team is forcing Romney to run as far and as fast as he can from his association with Bain Capital. Sure the fine print says Romney only wants to disassociate himself from Bain AFTER 1999, Romney is proud of his association with Bain Capital BEFORE 1999, but how many voters really read the fine print?

The big picture is Mitt Romney twisting his legal filings into pretzels trying to convince people that you can't blame him for anything Bain did AFTER 1999 - automatically calling into question what Bain might have been up to prior to 1999. Romney's evasion is dubious on its face, but it doesn't matter if he ultimately convinces the pundits and the media that his hair splitting holds up. Romney could win that battle but he already lost the Bain wars. Bain will never again be something Romney can easily point to with pride, and Bain had been virtually the only thing Romney would admit to being proud of. He clearly hasn't oozed pride over his record as Massachusetts Governor.

I guess you might say Romney also took pride in his role heading up the Utah Olympics, but that too now is completely tangled up in the Bain story and whether he was or was not still with Bain while he worked for the Olympics. Bain is now a problem child for Romney and his own actions underscore that. He is left having to make excuses for his signature achievements both as Massachusetts Governor, Romneycare ("the liberals made me do it) AND for his tenure at Bain (I wasn't really the CEO Chairman and sole shareholder at Bain for three years even though my SEC filing signatures say I was).

Romney is running away from Bain and that will hurt him running for President. He has now distanced himself from his own record in government and from the business that he formed. Why again should people vote for Romney; because he knows how to legally avoid paying taxes and he is among the 300+ million Americans who are not named Barack Obama?

[Denninmi]

1. Well, at this point, I don't see a down side for Team Obama in pursuing this.

I think that keeping Romney on the defensive is an excellent strategy and I hope they can keep it up for the entire campaign.

[Tom Rinaldo]

2. There is a minimal down side

Obama will likely take a few dings to his likability index which is one thing that has helped prop up his favorably ratings with the public. But on the other hand people like forceful leaders who know how to press an advantage which I think will more than offset that. Besides Obama can afford to be a little bit less liked if in doing so he destroys Romney's primary case for being President.

[riverwalker]

3. a corporate slumlord

he is like a property owner renting out a building with a 100 foot hole in the backyard. He collects the rent, owns the building, sure, he's never been there, but he is still legally the owner. If someone falls in, he is still legally accountable. Even if he was in the process of selling the property, his name is on the papers.

[rufus dog]

4. let's see

1. Governor of MA - Mitt took that away from himself by disowning RomneyCare and his throw away lines about MA being liberal.
2. Bain - His work experience is now gone.
3. Running SLC Olympics and running for President is all that is left.

Do you think Mitt has figured out that the objective is to paint him as the proverbial "empty suit?"

[DCBob]

5. I wonder if the Obama campaign has something ready for the Olympics..

Romney will be over there touting his "Olympian" performance back in 2002. I wonder if the Obama campaign has found some dirt on Romney's tenure there. That would be so great if they did. That would take another item off the Romney positives list which is very short already.

[Tom Rinaldo]

7. I doubt they would play any Olympics card if they had any

Bain is where the Romney case unravels. Romney is shooting his own foot regarding having been Governor so there are no Obama fingerprints on that needed - Obama gladly gives Romney credit for Romneycare. Aiming fire on the Olympics would just mudy the waters and shift too much focus onto Obama being "nasty". People like the Olympics and that was seen as "public service". Bain is different because it directly relates to the economy and has been the primary argument Romney uses for why we should elect him President.

[DCBob]

8. yes, that is probably right.

but I suspect Romney is going to be able to change the momentum at least for awhile using the Olympics thing.

[Tom Rinaldo]

9. True the 2012 Olympics might have a small positive rub for Romney

But the positive is now minimized because every Olympic reference to him now includes the footnote that Romney supposedly took a leave of absence to work on the Olympics though SEC filings say otherwise etc. - bringing up the Bain controversy again. The Olympics WOULD have netted Romney some easy points if all of this hadn't blown up. Could be the Obama team moved to preempt that with their timing on offense.

[DCBob]

10. Good point..

voters will still be reminded of the Bain controversy even as he brags about his Olympic achievements.

[Maeve]

6. AND it has gotten out there before he re-introduces himself after the convention!

How is he going to etch-a-sketch himself out of this?
"I am a great family man!" ?
"Look at what I did for my church!"?
"I'm the white guy"?